The cigarette and the cigar were the most common methods of smoking in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America until recent times. The Maya, and later the Aztecs, smoked tobacco and other psychoactive drugs in religious rituals and frequently depicted priests and deities smoking on pottery and temple engravings. Cigarettes appear to have had antecedents in Mexico and Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. The earliest forms of cigarettes were similar to their predecessor, the cigar. Since e-cigarettes are a relatively new product, scientists do not possess data on their possible long-term health effects.Ī reproduction of a carving from the temple at Palenque, Mexico, depicting a Maya deity using a smoking tube Such devices are commonly promoted by their manufacturers as safer alternatives to conventional cigarettes, although there are some health risks associated with their use. In the 21st century, a product called an electronic cigarette (also called an e-cigarette or vape) was developed, in which the substance contained within it (typically a liquid solution containing nicotine) is vaporized by a battery-powered heating element, as opposed to being burned. The first country to introduce a large scale anti-smoking campaign was Nazi Germany and despite its minimal success it did create a blueprint for many other nations to follow. Most nations outright ban commercials on cigarettes and have levied taxes on them to dissuade smokers to continue the habit. Smoking rates have generally declined in the developed world, but continue to rise in some developing nations.īecause of their adverse health effects, many countries have strict legislation concerning the marketing and purchasing age of tobacco.

Cigarette use by pregnant people has also been shown to cause birth defects, including low birth weight, fetal abnormalities, and premature birth. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not make the smoke inhaled from them contain fewer carcinogens and harmful chemicals. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemical compounds, including arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, lead, carbon monoxide, acrolein, and other poisonous substances. Second-hand smoke from cigarettes causes many of the same health problems as smoking, including cancer, which has led to legislation and policy that has prohibited smoking in many workplaces and public areas. Every year, tobacco cigarettes kill more than 8 million people worldwide with 1.2 million of those being non-smokers dying as the result of exposure to second-hand smoke. About half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related disease and lose on average 14 years of life. Nicotine, the psychoactive drug in tobacco, makes cigarettes highly addictive. Researchers have identified negative health effects from smoking cigarettes such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and other health problems relating to nearly every organ of the body. Since the 1920s, scientists and doctors have been able to link smoking with respiratory illness.

A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or an herbal cigarette. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking.

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